Residential City. Home to the local superhero group known as the Fantastic Five. While not as prolific as other cities’ main protectors, they stopped at nothing to ensure the city was safe from crime, whether it be minor misdemeanors or acts of super terrorism, as the media had called it. While not as common as some other cities, it was definitely nice knowing there were people using their powers for good, even if there was some noticeable pressure at times.
Today, the streets of the city were safe, or so they seemed on the surface. There was a peculiar blue-skinned old man looking around, glancing at people who were energetic, smiling, or just in general enjoying their day to day life, and he scowled at the sight. Though nobody paid him any mind, until he noticed in the park a middle-aged woman shouting at a park keeper.
“Ma’am, please, for the last time, your poodle cannot chase children just because they annoy you.” the disgruntled worker explained.
“Well you should add that rule then!” the woman protested. “How is anyone supposed to know that if it’s not on the rules?”
Sensing a prime first target within this city, the blue-skinned man gave a crooked smile as he approached them, making sure no one was watching before he held up his hand and grabbed the woman by the shoulder. She immediately felt a strange sensation as his helmet lit up, draining any strong emotions out of her, leaving her pale and unable to think clearly. She just stared blankly and tried to continue speaking, but failed to do so, much to her dog’s concern. Now without any emotion to keep her lively, the woman simply collapsed on the ground before the wicked man, who grinned from ear to ear… until the worker suddenly ran up and hugged him.
“Thank you!” the worker exclaimed as he kissed him on the cheek… only to become his next victim and collapsed all the same..
“There, problem solved.” the sinister man chuckled to himself as he left the scene.
Just across the street, he noticed two women walking down the sidewalk and chatting, all the while a hooded man from a nearby alley peeked out at them with a crooked grin. Without giving much warning, he jumped one of the women, drawing a knife from his cloak and attempting to threaten her with it.
“Alright, all yer money now, bi-!” he managed to say right before she suddenly retaliated with an electrically-charged kick right to his gut. He immediately staggered backwards and clenched his gut in pain
“Superhero…?” he groaned.
“Superheroes.” said Anya, the second woman, as she approached her friend, coating her fist with ice.
“...Dang.”
KER-POW!
WHA-POW!
BWA-POW!
ANOTHER ACTIONY NOISE ENDING IN-POW!
The crook moaned in agony as it took every remaining bit of energy to keep standing. This energy was quickly drained as he fell backwards, with riches from other victims he’s robbed scattering out as he hit the ground. The two ladies just looked down at the felled robber before turning back to each other and carrying on like nothing had happened.
“You know Donna, I’m honestly jealous of your kicks.” Anya complimented.
“Aw, nothin’ to it, hon.”
The two ladies continued on their way until they reached a certain building: Burres Family Robotics & Engineering (Operating Since 1985). Despite the sign indicating the building was closed, Donna was the first to walk up to the entrance, opening a hidden hatch to the side that scanned her face. Anya followed suit after. They then stood still as the door automatically opened, revealing a secret compartment that the two women went into, disappearing from the public. They weren’t aware that the figure had overseen this, much less that he was able to piece together what they were up to.
“Another city with superheroes, huh?” the figure said to the now emotionally drained citizen. “Good… Let’s see how long they keep their spirits…”
The two ladies rode a lengthy elevator down to a secret underground base beneath the city, one where the Fantastic Five would gather for business whenever there wasn’t a supervillain attack. Inside, Johnny O’Laurie, also known as Lucky Johnny, was chugging down a bottle of beer. He watched his partner, Lin Kouji, the Screech Owl, honing their sword skills as he sliced through training dummies like ribbons. They finished off the last one by slamming their sword against the floor, emitting a sonic scream that easily shredded it.
“Think Mason’s gonna be cool with this?” Johnny asked. “Coulda sworn those things were pretty expensive.”
“I’m just using them as intended.” said Lin. “So sue me.”
Finally, the elevator arrived, with Donna and Anya stepping out in their superheroes guises, the Electric Slider and Permafrost.
“Hey fellas.” Donna greeted. “What’s the buzz with Mason?”
“I dunno, he just said to meet ‘im for some important business thing.” Johnny replied.
“Just hope it’s not about the electric bill again.” Lin commented as he sheathed his sword.
“Well, to be fair, it wasn’t much fun doing superhero stuff in the dark.” said Anya.
“Speak for yourself.” the vigilante retorted.
The elevator rang again, catching their attention. Out of it stepped a man in a mechanical suit, who removed his helmet as he approached his fellow superheroes. This was the leader of the team, Mason Burres, better known as the Human Rocket.
“Hey everyone. Sorry I’m late, that elevator takes a while.” he greeted.
“Late? You only came in like five seconds after us.” Donna pointed out.
“Well, that’s five seconds of delaying our little problem.” Mason continued, speaking matter-of-factly.
“Is it really that serious?” Lin asked.
“Not if you ask me, just annoying.” he continued. “So if anyone’s got any objections to nipping it ASAP, let me know.”
The rest of the team just exchanged glances, some giving each other shrugs or nodding back at their leader.
“Alright, let’s get this over with then. And no drinking during it, Johnny.” Mason ordered as he headed further inside, causing the wrestler to hastily toss away the rest of his beer. “And thanks for slicing up our last training dummy, Lin.”
As soon as the entire team made it to the meeting room, Mason wasted no time getting right down to business. Even the remaining four members thought this was unusual of him, questioning if the matter really was as trivial as he said it was.
“Okay everyone, seats please. Of which you may notice there’s one extra.” Mason said, feeling internally proud of his segue. “Well, as it turns out, our superhero team namesake has been noticed by Mediall’s lawyers, who think it’s too similar to their recently purchased ‘Fabulous Five’ movies. So, we are now legally obligated to get a sixth member, or kick one of you guys off, and I know none of us wanna deal with that drama.”
His fellow heroes paused, staring back at him blankly, before they all unanimously tried to hold back a chuckle.
“Dude, that’s it?” Lin asked. “Big media doesn’t want us confused for their corny movies? You were making it sound like a big deal.”
“Yeah, that’ll be easy.” said Anya dismissively. “Who wouldn’t want to join us?”
“Well, that leads me to the second part of this little story.” Mason said as he held up a file of court documents and newspapers, which he dropped onto the table, spreading them out for everyone to look over.
The heroes all looked shocked at what they were seeing before them. There were headlines highlighting one of their slip ups in recent times, international polls where they ranked low, and some government notices regarding their status as a superhero team. There was barely anything pleasant said about them, aside from an occasional back-handed compliment, which hardly counted in their minds.
“We’re C-List heroes?!” Johnny exclaimed as he held up one of the files. “Since when?”
“For a couple weeks now.” Mason explained. “So not only do we need a new member, we need to boost our public image.”
“Please, that’s easy, hon.” Donna answered “I can call Vanessa and we’ll drum up some interest by-”
“By having another FanCon incident?” their leader interrupted, quickly shutting her up. “Yeah, I don’t think so. We’ll be doing this the old fashioned way.”
And so with his word, the soon-to-be-renamed Fantastic Five set up an audition, hoping to find the perfect sixth member of their squad. On the first day, no one showed up, but the second proved to be more bountiful, with a plethora of aspiring heroes showing up to be a part of something greater.
…Aspiring, not impressive.
After a long day of less than stellar candidates coming in, the five were on the brink of giving up their search.
“Well, they all sucked.” said Anya.
“Yeah, didn’t realize how many D-Listers were in town.” Johnny added. “So now what?”
“Well, guess we’ll just have to make a statement, then-” Mason said, sounding oddly proud of himself, before there was a hearty knock at the door. Figuring they might as well hear out one last hero, he rolled his eyes and turned toward it. “Alright, come in.”
The late arrival opened the door, immediately catching everyone’s attention as she revealed herself. She was a tall, well-toned woman with bright orange hair tied back into a ponytail. Despite arriving in more casual attire, she already seemed more impressive than most of the people they’ve gotten up until now.
“Hey! Bad traffic out there today.” she explained. “Sorry to bother you guys if you already found someone.”
“No, we haven’t.” Lin said bluntly.
“Yeah, you’re good. Take a seat, hon.” Donna said more kindly, as Mason also followed her advice and sat back down at the desk. “What’s your deal?”
“Okay, uh, I’m Gloria, and I’m sorta new to the whole… superhero thing.” Gloria stammered, an awkward feeling coming over her. “But I’m from… Well, you probably know it as Rottenheim. And growing up was pretty rough there, so I wanted to give it a shot.”
“Alright, well, you gonna show us what you got then?” Mason stated.
“Oh, right!”
Gloria set down her handbag, quickly rummaging through it, not wanting to waste time. This only raised the curiosity of the five further, except for Mason, who wasn’t impressed by the lack of professionalism. In no time, she found her super suit, and tossed it into the air. With a leap and a spin, she quickly changed outfits, and a flash of light emitted the room, nearly blinding everyone and making them briefly look away.
“Presenting…”
With a heroic pose, the Glory landed with enough force to shake the room, knocking over several items in the process. This made her briefly drop her heroic identity as she went to pick them back up.
“Sorry!” she apologized. “I’m still getting used to that…”
“It’s fine…” said Mason. “So what do you got aside from flashy intros?”
“Well, I don’t really know how to explain it, but I can do this!” she said as she demonstrated her powers, forming a solid light construct of a giant fist around her hand. Most of the five were intrigued by this, as she continued further with images of large boots around her feet. “And that! And a bunch of other things.”
“Well, it’s more impressive than controlling worms.” Lin commented as he turned to their leader. “Right, chief?”
“At least, yeah.” Mason admitted. “Alright, since everyone seems impressed, why don’t we give you a field test?”
“You got it!” Gloria gleefully responded as she gave a thumb’s up. Her literally glowing smile instantly brightened up her fellow heroes. All except for Mason, of which the others were too distracted to notice he wasn’t as excited.
The field test began, with Gloria being paired up with members of the Five, on account of their training dummies being sliced up and shattered earlier. It was nothing too complicated, just a couple of quick challenges that Mason had volunteered to judge.
Testing leg strength with the Electric Slider: Passed with flying colors, thanks to a sturdy boot construct.
A casual wrestling match against Johnny: While she did lose this one, she held her own surprisingly well, enough to impress the lucky wrestler into giving her a pass.
Focusing your inner ki with the Screech Owl: Another she passed, though Mason was left questioning if the test really was just sitting for an hour.
And finally, Anya was the only one left to give her challenge, which was just as simple in theory. Before them were some run down machines Mason had quickly repurposed into high strikers. Anya cupped her hands together, breathing into them to form a giant hammer made of ice. Gloria followed suit, forming one of her own with her solid light. Reeling back and swinging down on the machines with as much force as they could muster. The weights flew off their tracks, smashing through the roof and disappearing with a twinkle in the sky as they left orbit. Anya stared up through the holes in the ceiling left behind with a squint, though was unable to make out how high they flew.
“Eh, we’ll say it’s a draw.” the Russian powerhouse said with a shrug. “Still a pass in my book though!”
With the four issuing their challenges all giving their approval, they turned to Mason, who had been judging everything himself and taking notes. As the leader, he would get the final say on whether or not she would be allowed on the team. And what did he have to say after such impressive showings?
“Yeah, very good stuff here, Gloria. We’ll definitely think about it.”
The other heroes just stared back at him, pausing in confusion. Gloria, however, was excited to have just made it this far, going up to the head of the team and giving him a hearty handshake that nearly rocked him out of his seat.
“Alright! Thank you so much for your time!” she said before letting go to grab her stuff. “Just keep me posted!”
And so the Golden Glory was on her way, feeling that extra bit of confidence in herself. As soon as she was gone, the rest of the team all turned to Mason, looking at him as if he’d grown a second head.
“‘We’ll think about it’?!” Donna questioned.
“Yeah, dude, what’s there to think about?” Johnny added. “She’s perfect!”
“Yeah, except she said she’s from Rottenheim, remember? The place overrun with super villains?” Mason explained. “So the problem is she’s too perfect. I’m not just gonna let her on all willy nilly if it’s some kind of trap!”
“That doesn’t seem fair at all!” Anya protested.
“Yeah, we should at least give her a chance to prove herself in that case.” Donna continued.
“Which is why I said we’d think about it!” Mason argued back.
“Alright, if you say so.” Lin relented as they turned around. “Don’t think there’s much to think about, though.”
Mason simply looked back at his notes, then back up at his fellow heroes as they returned to their casual activities in the lair, waiting in case there was another villain attack. They didn’t realize that to him, the opposite of what Lin said was true.
A couple weeks then went by, with their deadline getting narrower. In spite of that, Mason seemed privy to find any excuse to not let the Golden Glory join their team, even though she was getting along perfectly fine with the others outside of work, and had numerous feats that showed no signs of deception. From minor acts of heroism such as saving cats or helping strangely emotionless old women cross the street, to aiding the Five in battles against supervillains. Yet it never seemed to be good enough for the Human Rocket, even with everyone else being on board with recruiting her.
One particular encounter seemed to be the make or break moment for the Glory, with her rushing into battle against a building-sized bank robber that also seemed strangely emotionless. But her focus was only on making sure justice was served, after seeing her fellow heroes struggle to dent the brute. It took one combined attack from her, Johnny, and Anya to finally topple the colossal crook, smashing him through one of the bank’s walls, where he was promptly arrested after finding a van big enough to hold him. Not that he put up much struggle due to his condition.
By this point, Gloria was well acquainted with her fellow heroes, all of which were celebrating and congratulating each other on their recent victory… All except for Mason, who still had a look of indifference on his face.
“Hey, Mas - er, Human Rocket?” Gloria asked, trying her best to keep things formal. “Don’t suppose there’s any updates on that position? Not to be too pushy, but, y’know…”
“Oh yeah. I think…” Mason began to reply, looking around her and noticing the looks of approval given by his fellow Fantastic Five. “…I think we’re gonna keep the position open still.”
The other heroes’ faces all sunk in shock, but none more so than Gloria, who felt as though there wasn’t anything more she could do to prove herself worthy of the role.
“There uh… Any reason why…?” Gloria questioned further.
Struggling for a second to think of something to let her down easy, Mason finally pointed toward the damaged wall - what was left of it - from the bank. “Yeah, it’s a collateral damage thing. Got too many complaints about that as is.”
“What? Since when?” Johnny interjected.
“Since we started this whole thing, remember?” Mason replied, briefly looking over at him. “But, yeah. Apologies.”
By this point, even the Glory herself was shocked at how unimpressed he was, despite her best efforts. She even started to internally question if she was really cut out for this, or if it had all been a waste of everyone’s time. There were a lot of things she wanted to say at that moment, but figured it would be better to not leave things on sour terms, even stopping the rest of the Five from interjecting.
“No worries, it just doesn’t work out sometimes.” Gloria said, trying her best to hide her dejection. “I’ll still help out wherever I can.”
With that, she grabbed her handbag and left the scene, her fellow heroes wishing her well. As soon as she was gone from their vision, Donna turned to look at Mason as he was also preparing to leave the scene. Her eyes narrowed into a suspicious gaze at him, sensing something greater than he was letting on.
“That guy really left a dent on my suit…” Mason commented. “Gonna need to get some loose bolts outta here.”
“Hey, uh, it’s still early, wanna join us for coffee on the way?” Donna offered, trying her hardest to not make her intentions too clear.
“Yeah, sure, I could go for some.”
And so he joined them inside of the privately owned Hero Hanks Cafe, which had hours specific for superheroes when they needed to unwind. Except the exact opposite was happening, as Mason was currently being grilled by his cohorts.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Mason!?” Donna continued, not beating around the bush at all. “We literally have a golden opportunity falling in our laps and you’re snubbing it!”
“You talking about Gloria?” replied Mason.
“Yeah! What’s your deal with her?” Johnny prodded. “How come you’re not giving her the time a’ day?”
“Look, is it wrong that I think we need to weigh all our options here?” Mason said, trying to defuse the situation.
“We don’t HAVE any other options!” Lin argued back.
“The vote’s four to one!” Anya pointed out. “And you still haven’t given a good reason for her not to join! At least not one that doesn’t apply to the rest of us, and she hasn’t even killed anyone!”
That last comment got everyone else suddenly looking at Anya, who realized it didn’t actually apply to them.
“Um… But back on topic-”
“I’d rather change the topic, because I just don’t think she’s a good fit for the team, and that’s that!” Mason stated, his agitation at an all time high. “And you getting on my case just like every other big wig official in this country isn’t gonna cha…nge…”
A pause came over everyone, especially Mason, who realized his true reasons had slipped out of his mouth.
“Alright, I’m no expert, but something tells me what’s going on here doesn’t actually have anything to do with Gloria.” Lin egged on.
“...Okay, fine. I was hoping to get someone who sucked so maybe they’d lay off all the… all the bullshit.” Mason admitted. “This whole superhero thing’s really been a thankless job, so I wanted to show ‘em how bad things could really be.”
“By trying to make us look bad when we’re already in the gutter? That was your master plan?” Donna pointed out. “Only loose bolts I see are in your head!”
Before anyone else could argue back, Anya spoke up. “Um, not to change the subject, but was everyone here dead inside a minute ago?”
It was here the five heroes realized an ominous blue aura emitting from the alleyway outside, seeing the shadows of a stranger zapping the life out of a hopeless victim, dropping over as another husk. The frightening sight was enough to disturb them at first, but enough to deter them from their heroic duties.
“Can we agree to settle this later?” Mason said as he stood up.
“What? This seems pretty serious…” Johnny shouted. “Oh, you meant what we were talking about… Right.”
Having suited up in the back, the Five heroes burst through the back door into the alleyway, seeing no sign of the perpetrator. There was, however, a trail of an odd blue substance leading up a fire escape. Activating the thrusters of his suit, the Human Rocket flew up to the rooftops, with the rest of his team following suit in their own ways. Once they got up there, they saw the mysterious blue man for themselves, casually leaning against an air conditioner.
“Hold it right there!” Mason commanded. “We’re here to put an end to your… uh… whatever you’re doing!”
“About time you recognized my efforts, Fantastic Five.” the man spoke. “I’ve been waiting to really put my machinations to the test.”
“Oh, we’ll test ‘em real good for ya, hon!” Donna eagerly proclaimed as her body sparked with electricity.
As fast as a streak of lightning, the Electric Slider bolted forward, extending her leg to deliver a kick to the sad scientist, only for her attack to be intercepted by him simple grabbing her ankle.
“What the-?”
Before she could finish that thought, the villain’s helmet emitted a blue light that engulfed the Slider. She released a pained scream as she felt something leaving her body, leaving it sagged and desaturated.
“SLIDER!” Mason called out as the rest of the team rushed to her, just as she fell over to the ground. She was in a grim state, unable to muster up enough emotion to get back to her feet.
“What the heck did you do to her?!” Johnny shouted as he clenched his fists, ready to take him down.
“This.” said Dr. Gloom, blasting the wrestler with another wave of weaponized emotion. Johnny tried his best to resist it, but ultimately met the same fate, with him kneeling over in defeat, much to the remaining three’s horror.
With this being well past the point of diplomacy, the Screech Owl looked over and noticed the villain aiming his hand at them, becoming his next target. Thinking quickly, they hit their sword against the floor, causing it to vibrate. As the doctor unleashed another blast, Lin countered it with a sonic scream that dispersed it and staggered him back. The Human Rocket took to the sky and shot an energy blast, while Permafrost rushed in with a hammer formed of ice, both narrowly missing their attacks as the villain laughed while making his escape.
“With every droplet of emotion I become more powerful!” the villain proclaimed as he suddenly bounded into the air, fleeing across the rooftops. “Soon, Dr. Gloom will be the only happy person in the world!”
“Not on my watch!” Mason proclaimed as he activated his thrusters, making sure the drained Donna was safe. “Permafrost, get Johnny!”
With a thumbs up, Anya rushed over to her wrestling teammate and effortlessly lifted him, carrying him over her shoulder as she joined the others in pursuing Gloom. This was a tricky effort as they attempted to keep their drained teammates safe at the same time, but the three standing heroes were determined. With some acrobatic maneuvers, Lin managed to get ahead by parkouring across the side of the buildings, getting a glimpse of some people who had become Gloom’s victims as he did so.
Back on the rooftops, Mason was attempting to lock on to the villain, who had surprising agility thanks to his emotionally amplified physique. As he did so, Anya kept throwing Johnny across the rooftops, creating an ice bridge out of her breath to follow, rinsing and repeating that. It was clear this wasn’t a very effective strategy, as she was tiring herself out quickly. So instead, she opted to create a discus out of ice in her mittens, and with steady aim and a strong arm, she threw it with enough force, managing to hit Gloom in the back and knock him forward. “Chert da!” she proclaimed victoriously as she continued to make her way forward.
Disgruntled, Gloom looked over to see the Screech Owl suddenly bound in front of him, their sword held high and vibrating, storing another sonic scream that he intended to blast him with. Seeing an opportunity, Gloom quickly grabbed a broken chunk of ice and hurled it at the vigilante just before they could let out their scream. It hit them right in the face and made them flinch, causing the sound waves from his mouth to hit Mason and Donna instead. Just before they landed, Lin found himself grabbed by the villain, covering up their mouth as he drained his emotion too, losing the will to struggle against it. In a moment of desperation, Anya caught Donna with one arm, and with all her might, hurled Johnny at the villain. Only this time, she missed, causing her fellow hero to fall off the side of the building.
“What was your plan there?!” Mason scolded.
“...Sorry, Johnny!”
So Johnny fell, hitting various balconies and flower pots on his way down before landing on the hood of a bright yellow SUV, parked just outside a small gym, triggering the car alarm. After being alerted of this, a particular well-toned woman stepped out, still in her casual workout attire, seeing the figure on her vehicle. Confused and concerned, she shut off the alarm before approaching him.
“Um, ‘scuse me, that’s my car you passed out on…” Gloria said, only to get no response. “Hello? Excuse me-?”
Finally she flipped them onto their backside, revealing Lucky Johnny to her, bruised but barely reacting to it as all of his emotions have been drained from his soul.
“Oh my gosh!” Gloria exclaimed with a gasp before picking up the fallen hero. “W-what happened?! Who did this to…?”
Hearing commotion from the rooftops, she looked up, seeing what was left of the Fantastic Five chasing after Dr. Gloom, who was easily bounding across rooftops with his captured emotion energizing him, cackling all the way. Gloria’s mind bounced around through different thoughts, at first thinking it would be best to just leave it to them, given her sub-par performances as a hero in the Human Rocket’s eyes. But she quickly put that thought aside, knowing it wasn’t the right thing to do, and looked toward the fleeing supervillain with a determined glare.
Back up on the rooftops, the two still conscious heroes thought they finally had the villain of the ropes, as the Human Rocket was firing off as many rapid laser shots as he could before his resources ran out, keeping Gloom on his toes. Finally getting an opening, Anya formed solid ice around her fist before leaping forward, dealing a powerful punch to the scientist’s backside. Gloom slid across the ground before banging against the brick siding, breaking his goggles and chipping his teeth. Anya proudly skated over before lifting up the villain by his collar, reeling back her ice-coated fist.
“Permafrost, WAIT!” Mason tried to warn as he flew in, but he was too late. Gloom turned the tables on the Russian powerhouse by grabbing her arm, using this to suck the emotions out of her next. She tried her best to resist it, but in the end there was only one member of the Fantastic Five still left functional.
Gritting his teeth, Mason flew in toward Gloom, who knew he couldn’t as easily pull the same trick again with his suit in the way. So, he pulled out one more trick out of his coat: A strange device with a frowning face embedded onto it, which he tossed at the Human Rocket as he came down, immediately colliding with his suit. Next thing he knew, it was shorting out on him, forcing him to make a rough emergency landing. He looked around for the supervillain, but the device was interfering with his suit, screwing with his sensors and causing a hazy blue filter over his helmet, making it difficult to see clearly. But he could still hear the villain, chuckling in a wicked manner.
“Seems I’ve made you even more upset…” Gloom spoke. “So many emotions you have. I can take all the frustrating ones away.”
“What’re you talking about?” Mason questioned.
“I’ve done my fair share of snooping, Mr. Human Rocket. It seems you haven’t been so happy yourself.” Gloom’s voice rang into his ear, causing him to be even more alert. “Being a hero is such a thankless job, isn’t it?”
“Oh, you think you know me now, do ya?” Mason retorted. “How about you come out and lecture me in person?”
Suddenly, Gloom leaped out from behind, using his amplified strength to rip off Mason’s helmet, clamping his fingers onto his skull.
“With pleasure!”
With his helmet glowing bright, Mason groaned in pain as he could feel his emotions being sucked out of him by the mad doctor, who had the most sinister smile on his face. It was the most joy he had felt in years, the feeling of having felled an entire team of superheroes…
“HEY!”
…Only to then look over, seeing the Golden Glory spring high into the air with a pair of giant light boots, preparing to stomp him flat. The doctor reacted quickly to narrowly avoid this, but the resulting shockwave from her impact, knocking both him and Mason back. Still retaining some strength due to the doctor being interrupted, he looked up and saw the Glory standing proud while the doctor easily got back to his feet.
“Well, well, it’s the new hero in town!” Gloom teased.
“That’s right! And you must be… Uh… Going down in a minute!” the Glory proclaimed, failing to come up with a cool comeback.
Gloom cracked a wicked grin, immediately springing back into action faster than she could react and grabbing onto her face. “We’ll see about that, my dear!” he proclaimed as he began the process of draining yet another hero.
“No!” Mason cried out, reaching out with the last bit of his strength.
But much to both of their shock, the Glory didn’t wince, or react with anything other than confusion. Her eyes narrowed into a glare, staring right into Gloom’s now concerned eyes, right before he was decked in the jaw with a glowing fist and knocked away.
“W-what?! Impossible!” Dr. Gloom exclaimed as he sat back up. “You should be down on your knees! You should be giving in to despair!”
“I grew up in Rottenheim, buddy. All I ever knew was despair.” the Golden Glory explained as she kept approaching him, making him try to back away in fear.
Still in shock, Gloom immediately reached up to his helmet, cranking it up to maximum power and blasting the glory with every bit of emotional energy it could muster. Gloria staggered back from the additional force. But she still kept her ground. And she kept moving towards him.
“This can’t be!” he shouted. “Every hero I’ve faced has succumbed to my power! How is your will so strong?! I saw you rejected and tossed aside mere hours ago!”
“Maybe I’m not the best, but I want to make a difference.” Gloria said through gritted teeth, fighting through Gloom’s influence. “I’ve seen too many people’s lives ruined because of guys like you. People who need hope and security. Who need someone to fight for them!”
Gloom was sweating profusely as the Glory got closer and closer to him, reeling back her fist and forming a giant gauntlet of solid light around it.
“And I’ll do that, even if I’m not good enough…”
“BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT IT MEANS TO ME!” Gloria proclaimed as a giant, light construct of a fist smashed through the despair, giving him the mother of all uppercuts and destroying his helmet in the process.
The destruction of his device caused its effects to wear off almost instantly, including the Five, who all looked over at the new hero, having leaped several feet into the air to bring the sad doctor down. Mason could only stare at the impressive display of heroism before him, with memories within him coming back to the surface. Visions of very similar ambitions from his youth, of genuinely helping the greater good, something that he had pushed down during his time as a leader. Something he realized he shouldn’t have forgotten.
As a result of Gloria having this spirit, Gloom was now defeated, as he was knocked out onto the ground with his shattered helmet, restoring everyone back to normal. After a while, the police arrived to arrest the scientist, who now was in a similar state that his many victims were in. Mason and the rest of his team just looked on, seeing the Golden Glory being thanked for her heroism. A sense of both guilt and hope came over the leader of the Five, the rest of the team present giving him more knowing looks.
“Alright, I’ll invite her back to the base.” Mason relented.
Later that same day, the Five were waiting in their lair, passing the time however they could. Now they had concerns of what would happen from their leader’s actions. These were soon quashed when the elevator rang, opening up with Gloria on the other side, stepping out into the lair and looking around in awe.
“Wow, this place is nice…” Gloria said before she looked forward, seeing the Five before her and clearing her throat. “Um… So, what’s up?”
“Well, first thing’s first.” Mason began, swallowing his pride. “I’m sorry for not really giving you a chance earlier.”
“Oh, no worries.” Gloria said with half a smile. “I get it.”
“No, you don’t. Truth is I’ve been feeling a little burned out on the hero work. But it wasn’t right of me to put that on you, especially not after today.” he admitted. “You reminded me of why I wanted to do this in the first place. Why we’re all still doing it now. And…”
Looking over, Mason noticed Johnny by his side, secretly holding the emblem in his hand and trying to subtly pass it on to him. It didn’t work, but Mason still took it and slid it along the counter toward Gloria, who glanced down at it before looking back at the superhero leader.
“Golden Glory.” said Mason, extending his hand to her. “If you still want to, then… Welcome to the Fantastic Five.”
With a huge smile and no hesitation, the superheroine grabbed the emblem with one hand and shook Mason’s with the other, nearly making him lose his footing.
“No hard feelings, new boss!” Gloria exclaimed. “And I promise, I’ll keep giving it my all as a hero of the Five!”
“Oh yeah, we should probably get around to that name change, now that it’s official.” the Screech Owl pointed out.
“Right. So, first order of business:” Mason proclaimed. “From now on, we’re the Spectacular Si-”
Suddenly, the moment was interrupted when the weights from Anya’s challenge weeks ago smashed into the lair, leaving behind two more holes in the ceiling, causing a chain reaction that brought down most of it and exposed their lair to the people above.
“...Second order of business, fixing the roof.” said Mason.
From that moment on, the heroes of Residential City had found a new spark to motivate them on their heroic duties. They still had a ways to go in improving their image, but now Mason was more confident than ever in himself, his team, and especially their newest member. So began new chapters for the team now known as the Spectacular Six.
Comments