Chapter Text
Things seemed calm in the city of Persona as it was a sunny afternoon. Business was going along as usual within city limits. People hustled out and about on the streets. Some of them were out shopping: out of necessity and/or leisure. Some were heading home from work; some heading to work. Others were trying to enjoy the nice day that Mother Nature was providing. Nothing too crazy was going on aside from the normal city chaos. Well, as normal as city chaos can get nowadays. Put a lot of people in a small space and there will be chaos. Today though, there was more chaos than usual at the western end of the city, due to a concept called Powers.
Not very much was known about Powers. Powers had only started to appear within the current decade. Essentially, if someone had Powers, they could become a superhero, supervillain, or neither. Powers varied from person to person, with some being more powerful than others. Although for some reason, everyone with Powers had the ability to fly. With the newfound discovery of Powers, the city had become more dangerous to live in. A very particular thing about Powers was that they have not appeared in anyone who was over the age of 25 (or if they were over 25, they got theirs before hitting the age). No one had figured out the origins of such a phenomenon, but it was known that more and more people were coming out about having Powers.
Arthur was not one of those people with Powers. Neither was his frenemy/colleague, Francis. Both of them were nothing special in that regard. As far as they knew, no one close to them had Powers. No one at their work had Powers either. Arthur knew though that it was logical for the people with Powers to not out themselves publicly. If one did so, they were painting a target on their back for the worst.
A van displaying the logo of the Persona News Network (PNN) sped down one the city streets. The people inside were hoping that any road patrolling cops were either on their lunch break or distracted from the city chaos caused by the supervillain who chose to attack today. They had to get to the other side of the city as quickly as possible to catch the live events of the action in the west. The vehicle bounced aggressively as it ran over a pothole. “Argh. Francis, watch where you’re driving.” Arthur rubbed the side of his head that had collided with the inside of the vehicle.
“Désolé, mon ami.” The driver apologized sarcastically. “Couldn’t avoid it. It’s a consequence of trying to get to the site of today’s incident for a live report before it is all over.” He managed to run a series of yellow lights to possibly save an extra two minutes.
“We don’t need any of our equipment damaged too.” The passenger peeked behind him to check on the stuff loaded in the back of the van. It looked the same as when they left the headquarters. Content with what he saw, he turned back around.
“That stuff will be fine. This vehicle is made to handle some hazardous conditions.” Then there was a sharp turn to the left.
Arthur was prepared and prevented himself from hitting his head once more. “Better make it there in time.” He muttered under his breath.
Arthur Kirkland and Francis Bonnefoy made quite an iconic duo at PNN. Despite their arguing, they got along well when out on the field. The two have been sent by the network to try to catch as many hero-villain interactions on live TV as possible in hopes of raising the network’s ratings. The real prize though would come if Arthur could interview a hero while Francis got it on camera. Monetary value aside, they could learn more about Powers. Any more information on that would be valuable to pretty much everyone.
Francis hummed with amusement. He never got bored of his colleague’s attitude. “So. Who do you think is going to be there aujourd’hui?”
“Star-Bangled Eagle is a safe bet for the hero. As for the villain…hmm.” Supposedly the villain was robbing a bank. “Maybe Gravitron. I don’t know. Could be just about any villain. Dynamite is another possible candidate.”
As they got closer to the crime scene, there were less people as they have evacuated for their own safety. Francis had to slow down as there was an increased chance of cops showing up at any second. Another turn at an intersection revealed the bank that was currently being robbed. Francis parked the van and Arthur went to help get the equipment out of the back. Respective camera and mic in hand, the two went around to find a good angle to start live streaming. A spot was soon found for the two to set up.
Francis gave the signal to Arthur that they were currently live. A red light on top of Francis’s camera gave Arthur the confirmation cue he needed. “Arthur Kirkland here, with breaking news live from the west side of Persona. Fifth Third Bank on Harold Road is currently being the victim of the latest attack by a supervillain. Police have already arrived at the scene as seen by the cars off to the side.” The journalist made a gesture with his arm towards the police vehicles out of camera view. “A hero has not arrived yet it seems. The police are doing the best they can to apprehend the villain targeting Fifth Third Bank. We will be getting more updates to you about the incident as soon as we can.”
Right as Francis was getting ready to turn off the live broadcast channel of the camera, an explosion knocked both of them down to the ground. Francis felt immense pain as he had landed half on the camera and half on his arm. He could only hope that neither thing broke as he got up to try to record the latest turn of the events. “Merde! It’s Dynamite!”
A man in a bright red jumpsuit with a comic book illustration of an explosion on the chest flew on top of the roof of the bank. He had made quite a hole to the frontside of the building, giving people the ability to see that the cops inside had been sedated. The bank tellers and customers were hiding behind desks and counters out of fear. Meanwhile, bags of money rested at Dynamite’s feet. The bags were easily at least a few 10s of thousands of dollars each.
Arthur brushed the dirt off of himself. He wasted no time getting back to work. “On second thought, it has come to our attention that Dynamite is the villain attacking Fifth Third Bank. He has been the suspect in a variety of robberies over the course of the month. He has gotten away from both heroes and authorities in his previous attempts.”
Dynamite picked up the money bags, ready to flee with his goods. “Thanks for the loan! You’re not getting it paid back, though.” He turned around to see a blue form land on the opposite side of the roof.
“Not so fast, Dynamite!” The blue form turned out be the hero who had come to stop Dynamite once and for all.
“Oh ho ho, this is fantastic!” The villain put down the bags. “I get to fight the famous Star-Bangled Eagle! Looks like the authorities really want me gone now.”
Anyone could recognize the iconic outfit that Star-Bangled Eagle wore. It was a light blue jumpsuit with white stars scattered all over. He had a flaming red mask to cover part of his face. The superhero had quickly rose to fame for the high success rate he had with turning in villains to the authorities. Soon enough, he became the most well-known hero in Persona. “If you come quietly, there will be a lighter sentence for you.” He doubted that the villain would willingly let himself be caught, but he had to give the offer anyway.
“Ha! I’m not giving up that easily. Let’s dance!” Dynamite flew upwards, moving his arms in the process. Star-Bangled Eagle immediately flew upwards after Dynamite, dodging an explosion that occurred right where he had been standing prior.
Meanwhile on the ground, Arthur looked upwards. “Are you getting this on camera?”
“Oui. I got just about everything that has happened so far.” He was ignoring the pain in his arm as he filmed.
Arthur brought the mic back towards his face. “We have a live update on the bank robbery happening on Harold Road this afternoon. Just as Dynamite was about to run away, Star-Bangled Eagle showed up to hopefully end Dynamite’s reign of terror. Eagle may be the authorities’ only shot at catching Dynamite once and for all.” Francis angled the camera so that the viewers could see the fight between the hero and villain.
Star-Bangled Eagle flew around the explosions that Dynamite kept throwing at him. He knew that all he had to do was get close enough to Dynamite to land a good punch. Dynamite was aware of this though, and was trying to get Star-Bangled Eagle as far away as possible. He made a number of explosions around Star-Bangled Eagle to act as a smoke screen. Then he dove down to reclaim the dropped money bags.
The hero was dazed temporarily from the explosions that surrounded him. As the smoke cleared away, he searched for Dynamite, hoping that he hadn’t lost the villain in the chaos. Another explosion rang out from under him. Looking downwards, a third explosion had been used on the bank. He flew down towards the building to investigate the additional damage. He looked upward for a moment as he landed on the roof, only to see a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over to see Dynamite flying away with the cash. “Crap, the fucker is getting away.” Star-Bangled Eagle flew off after Dynamite. Luckily for him, his main Power was specialized in speed. Dynamite had no chance out flying Star-Bangled Eagle. The hero tackled the villain out of the sky. They landed on the roof of a different building.
“Your crime spree has officially ended.” The hero held the villain down with his strength. “You’ll be under arrest for robbery, assault, and resisting arrest.” And maybe other charges too. Those were the only ones that he could identify off of the top of his head. Dynamite had no choice but to surrender himself to Star-Bangled Eagle.
“It appears that Star-Bangled Eagle may have been successful in stopping Dynamite.” Arthur looked at the camera and then towards the roof that the two Superpowers landed on. “As for on the ground, it is unknown if anyone has died or how severely injured people are.”
“Arthur. Look.” Francis stage whispered over to the other and angled his camera back up towards the sky. The Englishman looked up in that same direction. He coughed into his hand before speaking into the mic. “It is now confirmed that Star-Bangled Eagle has successfully captured Dynamite and is handing him over to the authorities. We will let you know of any other updates that come out of today’s events.”
The cameraman ended the live stream but still kept recording with his camera. “Now we could try to get an interview with Eagle.”
“We have to try.” Before the two could head over there, the hero flew back towards the other building. They watched as the hero used his flight and speed to get the money bags back down to the bank. Now they approached the bank towards the hero. Unfortunately, Star-Bangled Eagle saw them approach. He flew away to who knows where.
“Drat.” Arthur huffed. No interview with Star-Bangled Eagle.
Francis had stopped recording with his camera. He winced as he lowered the camera. “We got next time, mon ami.”
And then the duo got asked by the police to leave the crime scene. They were putting the yellow tape up now. Arthur and Francis moved away peacefully. They figured that the emergency responders would be too busy at the moment for an interview anyway. With nothing else that they could do, Arthur and Francis went back to their van. They put their equipment away, strapping it in against the sides of the van. Francis tried to be optimistic. “We got some real good coverage of today’s events. I didn’t see another news network while we were broadcasting.”
“That we did.” Arthur said as he got into the van. “Make sure that you don’t run over any potholes this time.”
Francis just stuck out his tongue at Arthur in return, making the other roll his eyes. He drove them back to PNN headquarters. The drive was much slower and calmer.
Arthur didn’t look at Francis. “How’s your arm?”
He had thought Arthur didn’t notice. “I don’t think it’s broken. Just sore at the moment.”
Arthur yawned. He needed a cup of tea. He almost didn’t want to get out of the van when they arrived back at the headquarters.
As soon as they walked in, they were immediately greeted by their boss, Antonio. “Welcome back, amigos! I was watching the broadcast. Wonderful work as always.” He shook hands with both Francis and Arthur, with the former trying not to grimace. “Go take a break you two. The scene looked action packed.” He gave a smile at them.
Arthur wasted no time heading to the breakroom for the stove and kettle, wanting to get away from Francis. It was about tea time anyway. He got the milk and sugar ready as the tea gradually got hotter. Everything was set by the time the kettle made its high-pitch screech. The tea was poured into his cup with care, as any spilt tea was wasted tea. With the same mindfulness, a little bit of sugar and milk was added. He took a sip of his beverage and instantly felt better. Another perfect cup of tea.
Elizabeta walked into the room. She dug around in the cabinets that Arthur stood by. “Hey Arthur. Nice job out there.”
“Thank you.” He finished the cup of tea. Not satisfied with one cup, he poured himself another. “I feel that it was one of our best field reports yet.”
“It certainly was! The way you were conveying information as Francis got some great shots. It turned out very well!” She was making herself some coffee.
“I won’t ever admit it to his face, but the frog seemed to do a good job. He hurt his arm when getting shaken up by an explosion.” The second cup was downed faster than the first.
“Oh no. I’ll have to check on him later. I’d imagine that he’ll be ok.”
Arthur agreed with her, another thing that he wouldn’t admit to the frog’s face. “Christ, there’s still another hour left.” It felt like it should have been way later than it was. He wanted to go home and rest.
“If you talk to Antonio, he’ll probably let you go early.” She turned on the coffee machine.
“Or I start on a written report of today’s events while I got the time.”
Elizabeta sighed. “Promise me you’ll go home on time, alright? You’re all work and no fun. It’s not healthy for you.”
“…I promise.” He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Tea time finished, he went back to his office to do a little more work.
As promised, he did go home on time. The two cups of tea that he had earlier helping him keep his sanity as the rush hour traffic was backed up in its usual spots. Although he did honk at a driver that wasn’t moving when the light turned green. He was fatigued by the time he got home. He rubbed at his eyes to try to wake himself up some more.
Watson, his small black cat, was waiting for him in the kitchen next to his food bowl. He meowed as he saw his human come into view. Arthur smiled at the sight of his cat. “Good evening, Watson.” He got the food poured into the cat bowl. “I’d assume nothing happened while I was gone.” He didn’t get an answer as Watson ate his dinner. His stomach growled, reminding Arthur that he needed to eat himself. He managed to cook spaghetti, with the noodles not coming out right. It was edible for his standards though.
For the rest of the evening, Arthur got some well-deserved peace. His apartment was his sanctuary from the chaos the city and work brought to him. It was a necessary sanctuary too. Arthur did not know how to live without it. He also didn’t know just how much more a sanctuary his apartment will later become.