Chapter Text
Queen was going about her morning routine when she got the message. She had just finished brushing and braiding her long white hair when the notification pinged, and she glanced over at her phone.
“See me in the office,” Uncle Micky had texted.
Queen finished putting the final touches on her makeup and cleaned up the surface of her vanity, putting loose items where they belonged, then proceeded to the elevator.
She met Cyan and the Johnnies on the way down.
“Hey, you too?” Little Johnny asked. Big Johnny hopped into Queen’s outstretched arms.
“Hi little guy,” Queen greeted the alien creature. “Yeah,” she said, tearing her gaze from the cuteness in her arms. “Probably just a staff meeting.”
“We haven’t really talked about the Ruins incident,” Little Johnny mused. “Not officially. Maybe we’re being sent to deal with E-Soul?”
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Queen replied, her hand returning to gently rub Big Johnny’s soft head.
Micky was waiting for them, seated casually on the edge of his desk. He wore a frown, but a calculating smile took over his face as the heroes entered. “Well . . . hello, Queen. Johnny. Cyan.” He nodded to each of them.
“Uncle Micky . . . you asked for a meeting?”
“That I did. It seems the Hero Commission has some concerns about the ability of heroes from different management companies to cooperate with others. It’s been decided to arrange a one-week exchange program.”
Cyan let out a gasp, her hand flying to her mouth, but not in time to stop it. “Where are you sending us?” she asked, looking from one friend to the other.
Micky retrieved his phone and scrolled through a list. “Queen will be sent to Treeman where she will be working with Heroes Ahu and E-Soul.”
“Beat him up for me,” whispered Little Johnny.
Micky turned a sharp eye to the young man. “I repeat, Queen will be working with Ahu and E-Soul. There will be no ‘beating up’ of fellow heroes.”
“Understood.” Queen cast a warning glance at Johnny.
“Johnny and Cyan, your assignment is MG.”
“I wish Queen could come with us,” Little Johnny presented, in a near-question tone.
“I unfortunately had no say in the assignments,” Micky replied, “but I will say this is not an opportunity to be wasted. Fighting other heroes is absolutely prohibited, but I will certainly not be opposed to hearing a thorough report on any information you acquire through this experience.”
“This is a spy mission then?” Cyan inquired, frowning slightly.
“Well . . . I wouldn’t exactly call it that. Educational is the term I’d use. Anyway, we ask that you report to your new headquarters by noon. Further questions can be directed to your temporary hero managers.”
***
Nice woke up reluctantly, pressing a hand to his forehead where the wound still ached. He was barely out of the hospital, and his new condition was still taking some getting used to. It still hurt that Shand hadn’t bothered to intervene until Nice had already thrown himself off a building.
Nice slowly and painfully rose from his bed. He missed the perfect symmetry of his old quarters, now occupied by his replacement. Looking around, Nice was thankful, however, for the lack of windows and comforting level of privacy his new place offered. He examined his face again the mirror. The cracks still hadn’t healed—perhaps they never would—but stitched together with fear, he had at least stopped bleeding. The laboratory staff, rather than medics, had attended to his needs, and cosmetics were not one of their concerns. Did anyone know he had survived? And what would become of Moon now that she was free of their fake relationship?
Nice received a message, and checked it right away, his blood pressure rising when he saw the name. Shand wanted to meet with him. Again? Nice’s mind began to race through dozens of possibilities.
At the precise requested hour, Nice appeared in Shand’s office. They were alone. “The hero commission has requested that we participate in an exchange program,” Shand got right to the point. “I’ve already spoken with the Commoner. Your assignment is FOMO. You will be working with Dragon Boy, who’s also there on exchange.” Shand tapped his fingers against his desk thoughtfully, then continued. “You are not to do anything that will bring attention to you. Your survival is to remain a secret for now. Zac and Dragon Boy had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. For this reason, you will both be in disguise. Miss J will be doing your makeup and hair to match Dragon Boy . . .”
Nice gave a horrified gasp, his hands flying to his perfect white hair. “Please don’t tell me I have to look like Dragon Boy!” he cried.
Shand folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. “What, you think it will go well for you if people know who you are?” he questioned. “Your actions at the Ruins incident and in the housing acquisition took significant expenditure of time and resources to sufficiently cover up. I will not waste any more time or money cleaning up your mess. For this week, you are Dragon Boy’s cousin, and you will act like it.”
Miss J arrived at this moment, bottle of purple hair dye in hand. “Time for a makeover,” she said, a smile spread across her face.
***
“When you’re awake, come see me in my office,” the text said. Loli rolled over in bed with a groan. It was already 11 a.m., but she’d had trouble sleeping all week and had gotten into a later schedule. To Zac’s credit, the text hadn’t been insistent, but for him, those were urgent words.
Loli rolled out of bed and dressed simply in a pink tank top, white jacket with pink trim, and her favorite leggings. She slipped into her favorite sneakers and grabbed a hat and hair tie that were strewn amongst the other chaos on her desk to complete her look.
She met Ahu in the hallway, just as she stepped out of the elevator. “Hey there,” she greeted him. “Any clue why Zac would want a meeting before noon?”
Ahu didn’t answer right away. “Why should I know?”
Zac greeted the two heroes with a cheery smile. “Well, hey guys! You’ve got a fun week ahead! Rumor has it, no one’s getting along too great after the Ruins thing kinda fell apart.”
“Ha, literally,” Loli growled. “And yes, I’d like to get a good round of punches in on Nice’s stupid flawless face. But he’s dead. Old news.”
“Yeah, well, that isn’t what we’re here for,” Zac said. “The hero commission has this great idea of a hero swap—one week, fun week!”
Ahu rolled his eyes. “Where are you sending me?”
“Glad you asked!” Zac scrolled through a list on his phone. “You’ll be headed to . . . Treeman! Working with Queen and E-Soul!”
“Beat him up good for me,” Loli growled.
“Uh, uh, there will be none of that,” Zac warned. “Commission’s orders. No fighting other heroes. And Loli, you’re at DOS with the Commoner.”
“Please no!” Loli complained. “He resembles Nasty too much.”
“Too bad,” Zac said with a shrug. “He just arrived to escort you to DOS headquarters.”
“Was that necessary?” Loli asked.
Zac shrugged. He opened the door. “All right Mr. Lin Ling, the young lady has arrived.” He guided a reluctant Loli towards the open door.
Loli wanted to puke, the facial features were so similar. Luckily he was not a clone of the face she so despised, or there was a very real risk she’d have punched him and knocked out a tooth. His brown hair bore only a single streak of white, and his smile was genuine enough to protect him . . . for now at least.
“Fine,” Loli agreed reluctantly. “But I don’t like this, and if you do anything, and I mean anything to hurt the people I care about, you’re getting a black eye at least,” she warned the Commoner.
Lin Ling visibly swallowed. “O . . . okay! I know about the . . . situation.”
“You can call it what it is,” Loli demanded. “Your horrible henchmen . . . I mean . . . Nice’s horrible henchmen killed my dad and his team. And put my best friend in the hospital.”
“I . . . I can’t imagine how devastating that must be . . .”
“Devastating? There isn’t a word terrible enough to describe how awful—”
“Enough!” insisted Zac in his rare strict voice. “You two get out of here and sort out your differences elsewhere. I have other stuff on my schedule today.”
“I have an old statue of Nice you can beat up if that would help,” Lin Ling generously offered.
Loli collected herself, finally nodding. “That would be quite nice,” she agreed.
***
Rock sat in his large-backed armchair at his desk. E-Soul stood facing him, silently awaiting commands. Dragon Boy sat slouched in a desk chair a comfortable distance away.
Rock frowned, cracked his knuckles, and finally spoke. “The hero commission has left me with no choice,” he said. “I believe this hero exchange plan is an ill-advised idea, but we can use it to our advantage.”
He turned first to E-Soul, whose expression remained unreadable, hidden under his helmet. “E-Soul, you have been assigned to Treeman. Your assistants are Queen and Ahu, but your main objective is to do anything you can to sabotage my old business partner, Shand. Create an illusion of cooperation and lose them as quickly as possible—unfortunately you will be unable to use violence, as the hero commission is watching this little experiment closely. But a subtle act against Shand will hardly be noticed if you make a show of cooperation with the journalist’s spoiled brat and FOMO’s pet puppy dog.”
E-Soul simply nodded.
“Dragon Boy, you have unfortunately acquired a cousin.”
“Say what?”
“You will remain in my office for a thorough discussion of the matter.”
Rock nodded to E-Soul. “You may go.”
As soon as the door closed behind E-Soul’s vanishing form, Rock took a more casual posture. “Well then, Dragon Boy, you have the privilege of working with a hero returned from the grave.”
“So, zombie trash?” Dragon Boy asked, without a hint of real interest.
“You will sign this form, and you will do so now,” Rock commanded. “Then I will give you the rest of the details.”
“Wow, okay Rock. Dramatic much. You got it.”
***
Ghostblade hadn’t meant to respond to the Commission’s message, as there was no reasonable way of reaching out to the mysterious X, and he frankly could use a quiet week to himself. Since leaving MG, he’d had heaps of work to handle on his own, things a hero management company usually took care of—replying to messages from the official hero account, working out deals with merchandise distributors, and building a strategy for his hero missions. The later has been especially perplexing, as he had stopped away from his long-held role as an assassin to pursue true hero work—a switch that was not easy to make when the public image had long painted him as silent and deadly.
Yet, the assignment to work with Hero X for a week was an interesting concept. Ghostblade, much as he despised team projects, was just as curious about the man with mysterious powers as any of the heroes would reasonably be.
So, when he heard a snapping sound, and X appeared in his living quarters unannounced, Ghostblade was only mostly annoyed. “Laughable,” thought Ghostblade, “that we’re each given our own private floor, but it’s not really private.” Still, X might at least have taken the glass elevator and announced his invasion.
X greeted Ghostblade with a friendly wave. “Well . . . it seems you and I are working together today.”
Ghostblade didn’t reply. His face wore a blank expression, but his eyes followed X as the man strolled casually around the apartment, as if he had been invited.
“Don’t worry,” X reassured his unwilling host. “I don’t suppose the commission will care how we use our time, as long as we don’t create any more tragedies.” He pulled out his phone. “Want to order food?”
Ghostblade shook his head and pointed out the window to the city below. A noisy place, but better than keeping up a charade of hospitality.
“Ah, yes, XFC will do quite nicely,” X agreed. “We can grab drinks after and still have time for a quiet evening at our respective homes. I don’t believe in overtime.”
Ghostblade nodded his agreement, put on a dark face mask and his favorite gray coat, and stepped towards the elevator, but X snapped them both out of the tower and to the street below.
It was a mind-bending, confusing experience, that Ghostblade didn’t have words to describe, even if he’d been able to vocalize them. One moment he felt like he was falling through the entire spectrum of visible color, the next he was flush with the pavement, and finally he found himself inexplicably seated inside a restaurant.
X raised his beverage in the air. He moved it to tap the side of the glass Ghostblade held. “A toast to ‘Hero Exchange Week’” he said.