The New Hero Association
…
“Ms. Sonia. Your Association regulations training has been fully completed.”
“I… report honestly… to the Association… Ah… eh… uh… I-is it over? Already?”
Startled by the soft voice, Sonia’s eyes flew open.
At some point the helmet had risen off her head, and the staff member who had been guiding her until moments ago was looking down at her without a smile.
She must have fallen into a deep sleep while reclining in the comfortable chair. Thin tear tracks marked the corners of Sonia’s eyes, and a faint crust of dried drool clung to the edge of her mouth.
“Ah…”
Flushing, Sonia hurriedly wiped her face with the cuff of her blouse. When she tried to stand, a mild dizziness spun the world around her and her body swayed.
The staff member spoke as if well accustomed to the reaction. “Some people experience 3D motion sickness. If you have no urgent business, you’re welcome to sit a little longer before you go.”
The clock on the wall and Sonia’s personal communicator both confirmed that exactly one hour had passed.
“Th-thank you…”
Haa… A whole hour already… It barely felt like five minutes… I must have fallen really deep asleep in the middle…
The staff member raised a holographic screen from the terminal on their wrist and held it out for Sonia to see.
“Yes. We’ve confirmed that you have completed the full prescribed training hours, Ms. Sonia. We look forward to working with you as a member of MegaCorp going forward.”
“Yes! Likewise—looking forward to working with you from now on!”
Sonia answered brightly as she rose from the chair. From this moment on, she was a proud MegaCorp-affiliated hero of Sky City.
“Then allow me to escort you back to the Association entrance.”
They walked the cold corridor of white-metal tiles back toward the lobby. Most commissions were accepted online anyway, so there was no real reason to linger at the Association any longer.
Sonia wanted nothing more than to get home as soon as possible and collapse into her soft bed. The only thing that had changed was this: when the staff member asked about her plans going forward, Sonia answered with complete honesty and not a single moment of hesitation.
…It’s only natural not to hide anything from Association staff. That’s… the rule… right?
“I’m going straight home to sleep for a bit first. After that, maybe I’ll browse the internet a little.”
Along the long corridor leading once more to the Association entrance, Sonia was already walking at a stride and pace that matched her guide’s with perfect precision.
Of course she didn’t carry herself with the rigid, soldier-like bearing of the staff member in the black latex bodysuit—but her footsteps were unconsciously, quite naturally, falling into the same rhythm.
(But… it’s not even hard, so was there really any need to walk so slowly…? No—this is just the natural way… They said the rule inside the Association is to walk cleanly and efficiently so you don’t get in anyone’s way… right…?)
The rationalization of her own behavior assembled itself smoothly inside her head.
Sonia, the D-class hero who had nearly lost everything in the Merging Point Association’s embezzlement scandal.
Today, by sheer good fortune, she had successfully registered with a new Association. And without even realizing it, she had already carved its first rule into her body.
“Thank you so much! I’ll be counting on you from here on!”
“Yes, Ms. Sonia. MegaCorp looks forward to working with you as well. Any future changes to the terms, designated commissions, and the catalog of items exchangeable for Association hero points will be transmitted to your personal communicator.”
Beaming with a sunny smile, Sonia leaned lightly against the slowly rising escalator that carried her toward the underground Association’s exit.
Behind her, the staff member who had guided her until moments ago raised their right hand in a salute—every angle exact, every motion flawless.
According to the explanation given during the training session, MegaCorp maintained partnership agreements with a number of advanced equipment manufacturers.
Affiliated heroes could therefore access cutting-edge products on far more reasonable terms than market price. The staff member had drawn a firm line, however: they would discuss it again only after Sonia had completed at least one commission.
Uh… uuh… uh…
To show her the categories of equipment she would be eligible to receive once she returned from her first commission, the staff member operated the hologram projector on their wrist.
The blue-lit catalog that floated in midair was packed with gear dazzling enough to make anyone’s head spin—everything from functional bodysuits to powerful next-generation plasma-class weapons. In particular, a higher-tier model of the plasma pistol Sonia normally used caught her eye.
“…Couldn’t you think of it as investing in me in advance? Please?”
“Regulations, Ms. Sonia. Hero of Sky City.”
“Hiiing…”
She had no persuasion skills and no gift for clever talk whatsoever—but Sonia squeezed out every drop of the natural charm that might have made her a successful idol or model if she hadn’t become a hero, and gave it one try.
Of course it was useless. Against a member of this emotionless organization, where every staffer wore the same black uniform and showed no feeling at all, that clumsy coquetry had zero effect.
In the end, Sonia had no choice but to revise her original plan. Remembering the staff member’s words—that she needed to complete “any one commission”—she immediately began checking for reconnaissance missions she could undertake right away in the area around her current location.
In this era, most Associations operated on a twenty-four-hour system. There was no problem at all with heading out to find a commission this very moment.
Reconnaissance mission. In reality, it was one of the most basic free commissions—something even an F-class hero hopeful fresh out of the Academy could accept without trouble. The contents were extremely simple: walk, as if on a stroll, to a designated blank zone currently without hero patrol coverage, then verify your position via the GPS function on your communicator. That was it.
Sky City, chronically short on public-security personnel, had created this reconnaissance-mission system as part of a policy encouraging as many heroes as possible to patrol every corner of the city, supplementing the insufficient police force.
The pay rose slightly the higher a hero’s registered rank, and the farther the patrol zone.
“…They said it at least has to be a mission where the compensation is ‘deposited’…”
On the escalator rising from the underground Association to the surface, Sonia replayed the staff member’s words.
Once you joined the Association, basic uniforms and equipment were supposed to be provided—but the condition was that you first complete at least one commission for which the Association could confirm payment of compensation.
“Ah, there it is! This one!”
Sonia’s eyes lit up. It was exactly as she had expected. Most reconnaissance missions paid only in Association points as a rule, but for outer districts, local residents or merchants who felt uneasy would sometimes voluntarily add a cash bounty of their own.
On the reward list of the commission Sonia had found, the words “Association points and cash payment” were clearly written. The location was well within walking distance from where she currently stood. There was no reason to hesitate.
…
“Ugh… another terrorist attack?”
If insurance products covering building damage had existed in this era, the insurers would have gone bankrupt long ago—that much was certain.
Sonia had only accepted a simple reconnaissance mission, yet as she walked toward the designated location, a grim premonition settled over her that the nature of the job might shift to “support.”
The closer she drew to her destination, the more the noise of what should have been a peaceful street warped into a dreadful cacophony. Screams of terrified people, dull mechanical sounds mixed with the bang of something exploding, the crackle of sparking, snapping power lines. Her heart plummeted, but Sonia forced her trembling legs to move and carefully advanced toward the source of the noise.
Most of the commissions Sonia had carried out as a hero fell under technical support—facility inspections and the like. The usual approach was to hide somewhere reasonably safe, observe the situation, and if she spotted a suspicious villain, shout loudly to draw people’s attention and then run. Afterward, she would pad the report she submitted with a little exaggeration—“Activity log: early warning of hazardous situation and guidance of civilian evacuation”—and that was enough.
“That way! Go that way! It’s safe over there!”
Sonia pointed in the direction she had come from and called out. When she had first arrived there had been nothing, but by now ambulances and medical personnel had already reached the area and were standing by.
Guiding the frightened, milling crowd toward safety, Sonia carefully drew the plasma pistol she kept holstered at her hip beside her skirt.
What reflected in Sonia’s eyes was a streetscape of utter devastation. Dozens of unmanned attack drones hovered in the air with a low, buzzing drone. The outer walls of the nearby shopping mall were blackened with the scorched wreckage of drones that had self-destructed, and the asphalt underfoot was carved to ribbons by deep scars left by the laser emitters mounted beneath the drones’ frames.
“Yat…!”
Cautious by nature, Sonia kept a generous distance from the swarm of drones indiscriminately firing lasers at building windows, so that she could flee at once if things went wrong. Hidden behind a pile of debris, she carefully squeezed the plasma pistol’s trigger.
Thwoom… Puff-boom…! Sizzle-zing…!
A sluggish green plasma mass arced through the air in a lazy parabola. The moment she pulled the trigger, Sonia didn’t even check the result—she simply bolted in the opposite direction and ducked out of sight.
A moment later, a chain of explosions thundered behind her. When she risked a glance back, an unbelievable scene was unfolding. By pure luck, the slow projectile she had fired had struck a vulnerable component that looked like one drone’s power core dead-on.
The superheated plasma slurry melted the internal circuitry and triggered an overload; that explosion set off a chain reaction among the other drones hovering nearby, reducing the entire swarm to scrap metal all at once.
(Uh… wait…? This… might actually be… way easier than I thought…?)
This unbelievable stroke of fortune—wiping out an entire drone swarm with a single shot. An attack she hadn’t even properly aimed had happened to hit, and had happened to set off a lethal chemical reaction that paid off spectacularly. Beginner’s luck, pure and simple.
With almost no real combat experience to speak of, Sonia began to misread all of it as her own latent ability. Could this be… that famous ‘awakening’ people always talk about…?
(Heh… heheh… hoho… A-at this rate, the reward’s going to be… huge, right…?)
The happiness circuit in Sonia’s head began spinning at a frantic pace. Unfortunately, the other hero assigned to this sector had already been hit by a drone’s laser beam and was groaning, collapsed beneath a thicket Sonia couldn’t see.
Had she discovered the injured hero, Sonia might have grasped the seriousness of the situation and fled on the spot—but the D-class hero of Sky City, knowing nothing of the sort, adjusted her grip on the plasma pistol into a rather impressive stance and began walking deeper into the ruined street.