Nova Tower - New Cassiepeia - October 8th

"This is a rare occasion, Lady Nova. When's the last time the four of us gathered in one room like this?" Wild Rosary crosses one leg over the other and gestures to the collective before her with her gaudy cigarette holder. The 'Sister who broke bad', Wild Rosary honours or perhaps mocks her past life with her traditional habit dress, except her tattooed arms are left exposed. 

Nova gives the other a curt, unfriendly smile, before continuing. "I suppose you know why I called you here."

"We've found our bait, baby?" Discoman (yes, that's his name) interjects as he taps the edge of the table with steady rhythm, the man is always dancing. He claims that if he were to cease his 'funky motions', in even sleep, he would surely die. Nobody believes him, but he ranks as the second highest scoring hero in New Cassiepeia on account of his restless nights, so none bother to challenge him on this matter. 

"Bait is... a strong word." Hivemind chimes in, or one of her many drones does. "We're doing her a favour really..." She timidly argues, always feeling small in the presence of her peers despite possessing the bodies of almost 200 former criminals. 

"No, we're doing our selves a favour. Don't try to dress it up, darling." Wild Rosary kicks her legs up onto Nova's mirror polished table, heavy combat boots resting over it. "You know what they call these kinds of gatherings right?"

Feeling her control of the room slipping, Nova flashes her impossibly bright eyes and demands silence. "Look, we all know what happened last night. Miss Murmur, once again without a trace, stole enough gold to ground a commercial fucking airliner."

"Language!" The former nun exclaims sarcastically, they all know too well how seriously their images are taken outside of this conference room. Especially for Nova, who has become the face of the city in this past year. 

"She used another diversion, the hero on patrol was too preoccupied with that to even notice the vault was being robbed. Why was such a valuable zone left to an amateur, this rookie hero's probably still in school for Christ's sake." Discoman shakes his head disapprovingly, though he also seems to be nodding it to a beat in his head. 

"How dare you use the lord's name in vain, you heathen." 

"Um... so, are we really going ahead with this, then?" Hivemind looks around, a habit of the guilty. "It seems her power give us this opportunity, right?"

Nova shrugs. "Maybe, it's worth a shot right? If it fails, what have we lost? Besides you, Hive, everyone at this table has had a run in with Murmur and experienced the resulting blackout. She's just avoiding trouble, I doubt we're going to put this new girl in any actual danger."

"Just think how groovy it'll be to finally clear up our otherwise perfect records." 

"Yeah, all those shit stains on the internet can finally stop making memes about it."

"...I see, yes. Okay then, I'll approach her tomorrow." 

Protectors of the city they may be, at least in this generation, but even superhumans suffer from the human condition. As it turns out, some of the most remarkable people on the planet are also the most self-centred. 

Tomorrow

I find myself daydreaming during a particularly dull lecture, thinking back to the events of my patrol two nights ago. Curtis Cruise and his crew are back where they belong thanks to my efforts, so why do I feel like I failed? The second largest vault in the city, a private one owned by some stingy billionaire who'd rather hoard than help, was completely cleared out under everybody's noses. Murmur couldn't have carried all of that by herself very easily, so either she has help or powers of her own. Well, it's plausible that she simply had enough time to carry it to a parked vehicle in multiple trips... the idea of her taking all the time she needs to commit one of the most profitable crimes in the city only serves to humiliate me more. My dreams of taking down Miss Murmur have begun to resurface, except, I would be at a total loss as to where she could be. Heroes have attempted to corner her in the past only to find her far too slippery a foe. 

"Rough night, Joy? You look more beat up than I do!" Laura snickers, her hushed tone not quite as discreet as she thinks in this echoing hall. Still, I perk up and look over at the girl, it seems she cut her hair. Short suits her.

"I'm just tired, took the guy home with me last night but we didn't do anything." I lie casually, though the reality is just as dull, last night's hero duty was mostly just scrubbing graffiti. "What's your excuse?"

Laura grins. "Oh, this?" She replies, puffing out her chest and pointing at the cut on her cheek, only an inch below her eye. "Papercut, would you believe?" 

"Haha, you're such a ditz." No, no I wouldn't believe. It's honestly kind of cute that Laura thinks I buy into her constant poor excuses. Unlike me, my best friend is terrible at coming up with convenient lies to cover up her extracurricular activities. In truth, the unlicensed vigilante known as 'Firefly' is actually Laura here, who just so happens to have a not so secret crush on the rising star known as Orchard. It's an awkward minefield to navigate, given that Laura plays straight at college but then Firefly can barely keep her hands off me. If she ever learns Orchards true identity, I can only imagine what it would do to our friendship. Thankfully, bad liars also tend to be the easiest to lie to. 

When the lecture wraps up, I wave goodbye to Laura as she heads off to meet her sister for afternoon tea, taking to my dorm and suiting up. Once the coast is clear I make my way swiftly down the fire escape as usual and begin what has essentially become my day job. The agency want me to attend the opening of a new salad bar as a special guest, because apparently my image is now synonymous with healthy living... I feel like a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

As per usual, I play up my clean, hero for all ages act... they even let me cut the ribbon. I've always seen this sort of thing on TV and secretly wanted to hold those comically large scissors myself one day, so I consider this a life goal achieved. The reverie quickly wears off and I find myself walking back home, I still have another lecture before I can call it a day. I'm nearing the dorm, taking my usual back alley shortcut to cover my tracks, when a group of three men and two women approach me from both directions. I begin to panic, having no time to spread my roots if they intend to attack immediately. 

"Orchard, is it? Our name is Hivemind, do you have a moment to chat?" 

My panic quickly dissipates, replaced wholly by shock and awe. The Hivemind? One of the city's approaching me, wanting to chat with me? In my flustered, star-struck state, I take a moment to respond. "U-uhm, right! I mean, sure. What... what do you need? I'm a big fan of yours haha..." It's true, though admittedly I'd be practically unresponsive right now had it been Nova herself.

"Of course you are." Hivemind states bluntly, a completely different person when not in the company of her perceived betters. It feels somewhat disorienting, being spoken to from multiple directions at once, by multiple different voices in perfect sync. "We need your help on an important, top secret operation. I have 30 of my drones stationed around this alley to make certain we are not being listened to."

Is this really happening? I feel my heart leaping, being sought after for help by one of the most famous heroes in New Cassiepeia.

Hivemind inspects me and cocks her heads, thinking for a second. "As we said, this is not to be repeated outside of this alley, should you accept or reject our proposition."

"Right, of course... but uh, why me? I'm just a small time protector, not that I'm saying no I just..."

"Only you can help us, Orchard, that power of yours is invaluable. Lady Nova has personally requested you." Somehow, Hivemind has managed to find the exact combination of words compelling enough to melt away any apprehension I harboured towards this proposition of hers. Managing to butter me up and finish with the claim that my favourite hero, the woman who inspired me to take up the mask and cape myself, needs me. Sure, I might be accused of having vanilla tastes for idolising the most popular hero in the world right now, but I followed Nova back before she even developed her powers. A female astronaut was hero enough for me back then, I remember watching the news of her death when she was pulled into the orbit of a black hole on the way back from her long distance journey to a distant planet with a sustainable atmosphere for life. She and her recovered specimen were thought destroyed, crushed under the gravity of that dead star. So imagine my and the world's surprise, when she would reappear on earth only months later, with powers strong enough to make waves through the current superhero scene. 

"I... okay, what can I help you and Miss Nova with?" It may seem silly not using her real name, considering everyone knows her true identity, but it just feels wrong to call her anything but Nova these days when talking about her superhero persona. Woefully unaware how easily I am being manipulated after claiming mental superiority over my gullible best friend earlier in the day, I wait for Hivemind to fill me in on my task like an eager lapdog. 

Hivemind sees the weakness in me instantly and knows exactly how to exploit it, she is all too familiar with how human minds work since she has occupied so many. "Your ability is to sap a person with your roots, severing mind and body to hold them powerless inside of your orchard. Am I correct?" 

"That's the short of it, yeah, I do need to spread my roots into the ground first so it's much better as a sneak attack than in upfront confrontation. I'd be powerless if stealth attacked, unless I had set up my roots in advance. I lose my mobility when they're in the ground, like a tree. " Explaining my ability like this reminds me of just how peculiar it is, I never really took much interest in nature and I prefer oranges over apples. My powers developed when I drank a carton of apple juice that had been tainted by a hair from an asymptomatic super who worked in the juice box factory. I've never met them personally, but their malignancy manifested in me. Why it became the orchard, other than the fact an apple was loosely involved, I can't really say... why can Black Cowl throw his shadow? It just checks out that the scrappiest superhero has the lamest origin story.

"Hmmm..." I hear the stereo sound of Hivemind's pause for thought. "It's perfect, then. Our target is Miss Murmur, the very same Murmur who outwitted you the night before last."

She... she didn't outwit me, I just had no way of being in two places at once. I never officially asked to take on this area as my zone or anything, I just live close by! Of course, these petulant excuses fail to leave my throat as I just nod along sheepishly. Still, this is perfect. I had been wishing I could do something to set the record straight with that crook, now I'm being singled out to deal with her at Nova's behest, with the greatest heroes in they city at my back there's no way I can fail.

Hivemind continues after sensing my inner monologue. "We intend to lay a trap for Miss Murmur to catch her at long last. Her latest crime has the city's wealthiest patrons questioning our effectiveness as heroes, threatening to cut funding for agencies such as your own. With that in mind, if we manage to detain Murmur and recover the raw gold she stole, our reputation will take on the inverse effect and soar." Once again I am not aware of how much Hivemind is stretching the truth of the situation, even with such a valuable theft the hero agencies are under no real threat from their patrons. It's too gamified for the bored billionaires to not engage in, all trying to one up each other with their investments and watching the supervillain battles like a sport. 

"Erm, I... that sounds great and all, a-and I want to help... but, would it be alright if I remained anonymous? You can take all of the credit, I don't mind." I exhale, looking down at my boots. While a little more fame would be nice, my peaceful life really would come to an end if I took even partial credit for bringing in the phantom that is Miss Murmur. 

Something glints in Hivemind's many eyes, though I am too busy looking down at the ground to notice. She had intended to reach this conclusion with some more coercion, but I had done the hard part for her already. This way, the big four can really scour the blemish from their records. Blissfully aware that I'm being used for something so petty, I feel nothing but gratitude at this opportunity to be useful to my role model. "If you are sure that's what you want, I can assure you that nobody else will be privy to your involvement. Now the plan is simple, Murmur is meticulous and near impossible to corner, so only the two of will be active participants in the operation. My drones will be dressed in street clothes but will stay clear of the building we will be using as our target is too cautious not to notice me on minor details. You will be stationed inside the vault of a man who is moving to New Cassiepeia along with his precious art collection. The art is fake, but she will be unable to discern this until cracking the vault open at the very least. Have your roots ready for her and pull her into your Orchard when she opens the vault, then signal for me to come and pick her up. Do you follow so far?"

This not only sounds doable, it actually sounds incredibly easy. I start to wonder if Miss Murmur will be tricked so simply, but wait for the other to continue after giving her a quick nod. 

"There are a few steps we need to take in order to make this plan run smoothly, first of all we will need to borrow one of Discoman's toys, a device designed to reduce your presence to an almost undetectable state. With several animals, the man's collection of rare cat breeds, littering the apartment... you should be able to blend into the background no matter what method she uses to stake out a location. Furthermore, while nobody knows the true nature of Miss Murmur's power, it is no secret that she possesses an unnatural sway on her would-be captor's mind. She appears to be able to alter her assailant's mental state by some method, meaning that once you have her inside your orchard she will be powerless." The voices pause for a moment and take stock of my face, eyes lifted back to meet their gaze. Though it proves difficult to decide which gaze to actually meet...

"Even so, we need to train you in all the methods of defence we have developed against attacks on the mind. From chemical control to psychic links, even the most powerful of mesmeric abilities have ways to be countered. For the next week, we'll have to impart this wisdom onto you and train you for anything. This is not an appropriate place to meet up again, we'll give you an address of one of our many secret training locations." Hivemind steps towards me and slips a card between my fingers, giving me a sudden whiff of her sweet perfume. I stumble back, feeling momentarily light headed as my back hits the wall of the building behind me. What... what was that? 

"When do uh... when do we start?" I ask timidly, my head still spinning. 

"Tomorrow. Pleasant dreams, Orchard." Hivemind smiles at me and takes her leave, the drones all heading off in different directions once they reach the ends of the narrow alleyway. My face tints red, all of this is moving so quickly. I already know I'm not going to be able to focus at college tomorrow. Oh, wait, I'm not in tomorrow... that reminds me, Hivemind never gave me a time. Maybe it's on the card.

Flipping over the plain white business card, I read the address silently and see the message written below it. 

Training begins at nine in the morning, all four of us will be there for the first session only.

I practically go weak in the knees, I'm not only going to meet some of my biggest heroes, I'm meeting Nova herself!