WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

Kathy nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly. Too many people are obsessed with the cynical side, where heroes are just law enforcement in silly costumes. We’re Heroes, we have to be more than that. Or what’s the point? If I wanted to be grim and dour and cynical, I’d be walking around in a uniform, not a suit of armour. Tank is a friend, and I love him, but deep down I think he’s still fighting a war. That’s not the kind of person I am, or the kind of hero I would ever want to be. If we can be a shining example, then we should. Give people something to hope for, not something to be frightened of.”

Walking arm in arm with the younger woman, Kathy giggled a little at her later words. “Most of them take themselves way too seriously. They’re all trying to be grim and intimidating. I mean, yes, they’re criminals, but they’re supervillains. In much the same way heroing should be fun, what’s the point in running around calling yourself a villain if you’re not going to go the whole way.”

She sighed. “Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one who really enjoyed Saturday morning cartoons as a child.”

She turned a little more serious, though only marginally. “It can be scary, and dangerous. Difficult and stressful. But, for me at least, it’s almost always fun. And even when it isn’t, you have to behave like it is. That’s what people are looking for, when they see me in costume. Fun.”

They arrived at the cafe, a quaint little place, and ordered their drinks. Megan went with a Mint tea, the heathen, while Kathy ordered a drip coffee. Taking a seat opposite Megan, Kathy laid her hands on the table and smiled. “So, we’ve talked about philosophy. How about personal life? Got an eye on anyone? Met any interesting characters lately? Or work, if you’d prefer to stay a little professional. How has San Francisco been treating you?

WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

Kathy knew she wasn’t the most identifiable of folks. Brown hair, hazel eyes that looked brown at a distance, average height, not particularly muscular. She wasn’t entirely nondescript, but certainly didn’t particularly stand out in a crowd. Not like her newfound friend Megan did, with that bright red hair. Kathy had never dyed her hair as a teen, and now that she was Celerity she couldn’t, but she could see the attraction. It was certainly striking.

She returned Megan’s smile with her own megawatt grin, only for her face to smooth out into a blank mask upon listening to the other woman’s words.

“It’s lovely to meet you too Megan. But I’m afraid we can no longer associate. I only speak to people who have more caffeine than blood in their veins.” The straight face lasted all of about 5 seconds before collapsing into another grin and an airy laugh. “Just kidding, that’s no problem. I’m just a bit of a caffeine addict.”

She leaned in a little, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. “One of my old roommates used to say I had more caffeine than blood, especially during exam season. I think my mom’s still not sure whether Celerity was a deliberate choice or just a fever dream from not having enough blood in my caffeine stream.”

They stepped out onto the sidewalk, and Kathy spun on one heel to face Megan. “So, where are we going? Host’s choice.”

WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

It took only a moment of listening for Kathy’s smile to return to its luminescent shine, the kind of smile that would have been creepy if her joy were any less evident and all-encompassing.

Finally, a hero enthusiastic about the job, who could save people with a smile. Of course, Menagerie wasn’t the first person she had met who fit that bill. Paladin came to mind; Alice could be a little shy, and didn’t tend to perform quite as well for a crowd as Surge, or even Kathy herself, could, but no one could question the depth and strength of her spirit, and her commitment to heroism. But too many were cynical, or darker in their outlook. Tank was Kathy’s premier example for that; she would never question his commitment to justice, but it was a darker, more brutal persona than Kathy preferred. Aaron was vengeance, rather than hope.

The skeleton pets might make presenting a positive and child-friendly image a little more difficult, but Kathy knew that enough enthusiasm could make anything possible.

More than that, this was a young woman asking for advice on heroing. Kathy always enjoyed getting to play the old wise mentor, even if it was always slightly out of character, and didn’t make much sense, considering she was only 27 and the Hero Program was less than 5 years old. Still, she had joined in the very early days, and so could proudly claim to be one of the longest serving heroes in the States.

“I’ve always got time for a new hero,” she said, smiling. “Can’t make any promises on how long I’ll stay, but it’s not like it’ll take me very long to get back to New York if they need me, so they tend to give me plenty of leeway. It’s one of the nicest things about being me. I can be in New York one minute, in San Francisco the next. I can pop over to Chicago for a spell, and still be back in time for tea.”

From another the words might have been boastful, lording one’s own advantages over others. But Kathy’s exuberance took the sting out of the words, turning them into something else - an expression of joy, a celebration of life.

“We should probably get out of our costumes first. I’ll meet you at the front door in ten minutes?”

WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

Paladin had a point, there was no way Glacia and Tank were the only Heroes sleeping with their colleagues - the topic of workplace romances was as complicated as ever, but considering that Heroes spent their day throwing themselves into dangerous situations it would be far more surprising if there weren't relationships between Heroes than if there were. If anything, Kathy was probably odd in that she hadn't yet met any Heroes she was particularly attracted too, especially with her open mind and eagerness to interact with people.

The sudden arrival of the fans, and the paparazzi with them, was no surprise to Kathy; despite being more than capable of avoiding them, Kathy enjoyed interacting with the public enough that she often didn't bother attempting an escape and instead was happy to get involved.

Kathy smiled at Paladin and tapped her earpiece. "If they need me all they need to do is call and I'll be right there. I might have to abandon you in the middle of a conversation, but it's not like I need to rush to get back now."

She followed her colleague towards the waiting crowd, deliberately keeping a few steps behind. This was Paladin's town after all, and while Celerity could match her popularity in certain states (especially her hometown of New York, but also in several others) Paladin was still the face of the Hero Program, the heroine that had started it all. Celerity doubted anyone would ever match her in San Francisco now - Surge probably could have, for he was by far the slicker operator with far more talent in playing a crowd, but his early resignation from Hero work had left Paladin as the star Hero.

Celerity laughed when Paladin diverted some attention to her, bowing flamboyantly. "It was a pleasure to be of service to the fine people of San Francisco."

Then came the most strenuous, painful part of hero work. The part that always left Kathy cradling her wrist and thinking wistfully of a hot shower. The autograph signing. Posing for selfies was much more fun, but Kathy had despised writing since she first got her hands on a keyboard. Give her a fight against a dozen villains any day.



With the fight done and the dreaded autograph signing out of the way, as well as the very much enjoyed interaction with all the wonderful people of San Francisco who had come to meet them Paladin and Celerity had become Alice and Kathy once again, both casually dressed as they left the San Francisco Hero building through a back exit. Kathy had needed to jump home to grab some stuff, but with her power it was as easy as breathing to cross the two and a half thousand miles needed.

Kathy grinned at her friend. "So where are we going? This is your home town after all, you've gotta know some nice places."

WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

The removal of the dastardly villains from the scene happened quickly and efficiently; Celerity envied San Francisco the experience of its cleanup crew - the New York branch of the Hero Program had recently taken on a bunch of new hires and many of them were still at the gawking stage, spending more time staring at the scene than doing their jobs. Speaking of cleanup, she had some of her own to do - the little metal tags she carried were invaluable, letting her use her power in a fight without the need to set up the area, but damn if they weren't awkward to go around and collect afterwards. Sure, she knew exactly where they were at all times (even if her power didn't come with an inbuilt compass, her proximity to them made them light up like lightbulbs), but they were small and numerous enough to be irritating anyway.

But, well, one didn't get to be a premier hero by complaining about the busywork.

"Yup," she said, grinning. "I'd put a serious amount of money on it, if anyone in the branch would take the wager. No one has though, everyone's calling it a sucker's bet."

"I don't suppose I can blame her either. The stubble doesn't really do much for me, but the rest of him..." Celerity winked at Paladin.

The street had begun steadily filling with the inevitable follow-on to any hero-villain fight, the fans. After all, the heroes were victorious, the villains had been taken away, and all that was left now was the wreckage of the fight, which really just made what had been a fairly simple open-shut affair for Paladin and Celerity seem like a big battle from a superhero movie.

Another hero might have been annoyed by the arrival of civilians but this was one of Celerity's favourite parts of the job, so instead of groaning at the sudden influx she instead grinned, saying one last thing to Paladin before she'd have to address the crowd. "We'll talk later, after this is done?"

WRITE A STORY OF A HERO!

Kathy had been surprised when the call came in. She was no stranger to PR events, but to be called in for one in San Francisco was a bit of a surprise - after all, the Bay was the home of Paladin, the exemplar and golden child of the Hero Program. Even if she was unable to make it, Surge spent most of his time in the Bay area as well and he was another of the original heroes, albeit retired now. It was a little odd to call in a primarily NYC hero like Celerity when you had such starpower right on your doorstep; then again it wasn't like Celerity was ever a bad choice for a PR stunt, she did them all the time all across the country and she was damn good at them.

She was apparently supposed to appear on stage alongside another hero, one Doc Holliday. Kathy had heard of the other woman, a mix of good and bad news - she was an excellent surgeon and frequently saved lives through her work, but was also a hero more in the vein of Tank than of Paladin or Celerity herself, in that she had developed a reputation for her use of lethal force to bring a stop to conflicts. Hannah had been careful to couch it in different terms, but Kathy could read between the lines easily enough; even compared to Tank Holliday's willingness to kill was not exactly a crowdpleaser and had left her with a rather negative public image, so the Program wanted to bolster perception of her and therefore perception of the program as a whole by putting Holliday on stage next to a hero that was far more popular and wholesome - what better way to improve the public image of a controversial hero than by putting her on a stage beside a literal shining knight?



A PR event could be anything, at least in theory. In practise the Hero Program tended to go for one of a handful potential options. There were the hero introduction events, a meet and greet to introduce the public to the new hero on the scene. They'd bring the hero up on a stage, tell everyone about them and what they could do, and then there'd be an opportunity for people to ask questions - the whole thing would be quite strictly controlled of course, there were plenty of hero hopefuls who'd do appallingly badly if put in front of the tabloid press with no shield to protect them. There were school visits and talk show appearances.

This was one of the more common types, a Program sponsored charity event at a San Francisco children's hospital. It was a good choice, in Celerity's humble opinion; it was an excellent way to make Doc Holliday seem more family friendly, and drew attention to her work as a suregon. She was there herself as the eyecandy, more than anything else - something pretty to distract from Holliday's less than stellar reputation.

Celerity turned up half an hour early, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They couldn't exactly start the event early, not when the star of the show hadn't yet arrived, so she instead busied herself making nice with the doctors and nursing staff, so that by the time Doc Holliday came traipsing through the door she'd already put a smile on everyone's face, and was currently telling a few nurses a rather embellished tale of when she'd come to the Bay to help Paladin against those three metas a little while before.

Celerity waved cheerfully at her costar for the afternoon, gave her condolences to the nurses for cutting off the tale in the middle of its telling, and strode over to greet Holliday. "Hey Doc Holliday, I'm Celerity and I'll be your partner for this whole shindig."

She offered a hand for a shake.