James reached for the light beside him and flipped the switch. With the room fully illuminated the strangers came into clear view. A woman, a hero, sat on his sofa next to two others. James knew from appearance alone who they were.
"Are you, Shadow Sparrow?" he asked, pointing to the woman in the middle.
She sat up and walked towards him, "Indeed I am, although I go by Sparrow for short," she cooed.
He took a moment to analyze her costume. It was a purple fabric that hugged her body, black and blue lines followed down her arms and legs and ended at her hands. She had an insignia of an eagle on her chest. A piece of armored black leather shielded her torso and matched her gloves. She was, by all accounts, intimidating.87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQHcPs57qg
"More to the point is who you are," She added as she poked him in his chest with a finger.
James was a bit bewildered by her presence, "What do you mean?"
"Please," she scoffed, "nothing goes down in this neighborhood without us knowing about it. We know what you did to 'King Lizard', the monster that's been haunting the park."
She pointed to the guy sitting on the left, "Falcon over there saw everything. He was the one who took you to the hospital after your fight."
He gave James a finger gun and a wink.
James nodded to him, "Thanks I guess, but what are you doing in my apartment?"
"Our sector has been hurting for recruits for some time now. We saw how you handled that scaled abomination and wanted to offer you a chance to join our squad."
He raised an eyebrow, the offer was intriguing, "Why the house call? Don't you have hundreds of recruits to choose from?"
A frown grew on her face until it morphed into a pout. Charm was clearly one of the weapons in her arsenal. 87Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8IwMBi8R8e
"Not anymore, most novice hero's flocked to the inner city where the rankings and fame are more lucrative. None of them care about protecting their community."
Falcon chimed in, "That's why we do this low-key. We only want to recruit people who care about the city and the people who call it home."
James nodded in agreement. What they were saying lined up with his values. Still, they were a part of the guild, and that made them hard to trust, "You claim you care about the people of the city but most of the heroes I know are attention-seeking phonies. How do you know I'm not another one of those?
Falcon and Sparrow looked at one another, they liked the question, "We don't, that's why we are here allowing you to prove it to us."
James stroked his chin as he considered the offer. He hadn't thought about joining the local guild as he still considered heroes to be part of the problem.
"Do I have to answer right now?" James asked as he looked over at Sparrow. She was rifling through a TV guide he had left on a coffee table.
She looked up from it and smirked, "How about this. If you take down the monster called 'Black Octopus' we will consider that a show of genuine interest."
James chuckled when he heard the name. "Who, or what is Black Octopus?"
Falcon stood up and gave James a rundown, "It's a local monster that has been living in the sewers beneath the streets. He comes out at night and drags anything down into the sewer he can get his tentacles on. Deer, pets, bikes, and recently people"
"You take him down," Sparrow purred out, "and you can join us."
She pointed to the window and they all filed out, landing on the ground below and running off into the night.
Sparrow paused for a moment before looking back up at James, "By the way, I'm not sure why you chose to keep your power a secret for so long but don't worry, I won't tell your brother."
And just like that, she disappeared into the night.
James watched as her silhouette vanished from sight. He couldn't help but feel a mix of fear, excitement, and a serious privacy violation.
Once they left Kazav offered his thoughts, "I'm not sure about this James. Didn't you want to change the entire way the guild operates? Joining with them might shift your goals."
"You're right," he agreed, "on the other hand, they do seem different than what I was expecting."
"Maybe so, but here is something to consider. They may be your allies now, but the second your goals change or you have to do something that puts you outside their definition of moral you're going to have to take a side."
James's concern grew the more Kazav spoke, "What do you mean by that?"
A moment went by before Kazav replied, "Just be careful who you align yourself with. I'll support whatever choice you make kid, but make it with a view to the long term. Do you understand?"
"Uhm, I think so."
Silence fell again until it was interrupted by James' howling stomach.
"Man, I'm starving!" he exclaimed.
James made the biggest sandwich he could and started devouring it.
Kazav began to snicker.
"What's so funny?" James asked as mustard dripped down his face.
"It just amused me how much humans love food. I mean, you work for it, you pay for it, you assemble it, and then you rip it apart with your tiny little teeth. It's funny is all."
"Well, what exactly do you eat?" James asked in between bites.
"I don't eat in the same sense that you do kid. I don't have a body, but I still need one to exist. Once the life form I'm paired with die's then I begin to die too and am forced back to my home planet. That's why I had to bond with you in the first place. It's not just out of the goodness of my heart but rather out of survival."
"Huh," James remarked with piqued interest, "so how were you born then? Do you have a mother or father?"
Kazav let out an agitated grumble, "I'd rather not get off-topic. Let's just focus on what our next move is. In fact, I think I already know what we need to do."
A pulse of excitement caused James to snap up to his feet, "Really? Lay it on me."
"You need to gain strength and to do that you need to challenge yourself. So whether you decide to join that little kiddy club or not we have a good lead on your next challenge. We need to find that Black Octopus thing in the sewers and take it out."
A look of disgust broke out on James face, "So you want me to go trudging around in the sewers? What if I get an infection?"
"You can't get infections anymore you dunce. Now get some rest, you have a big day ahead of you."
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