Alison looked up at Cal Richards, noting that while he wasn’t that much taller than her, and that he wasn’t particularly intimidating. He did, however, hold himself with enough self-assurance that she found him quite powerful, and attractive.
“You’re new.” He said, a look of indifference on his face. “Cal Richards. Mr Hart called for me.”
“Of… of course. I’ll just check.” Alison stammered, pressing the button on the intercom. “Mr Hart? Cal Richards to see you.”
“Send him in.” Mr Hart buzzed back.
“Thanks.” Cal said, opening the door.
“Richards, thank you for coming up so quickly.” Mr Hart said, not moving from behind his desk.
“My workout can wait.” Cal shrugged. “What do you need?”
“We have some new recruits.” Mr Hart said. “We’re reshuffling your team.”
Cal raised an eyebrow. “We just got Red Streak settled in.”
“And you’ll keep him.” Mr Hart said. “But we want three of these guys on your team.” Mr Hart threw five folders down on the desk in front of Cal.
“And you want me to choose?” Cal asked.
“It is your team. Figure out who will be the best fit.” Mr Hart said.
Cal skimmed the first file. “Masked Ranger? He’s from San Antonio.” Cal said. “A little old for my team though. He must be in his forties.”
“They’re all from San Antonio.” Mr Hart said. “We’re closing the branch.”
Cal was taken aback. “You’re what?”
“The San Antonio branch is no longer financially viable, so we’re transferring the more valuable heroes to New York and LA. As this is my home branch, I wanted you to have first choice of the transfers.” Mr Hart said.
“And Texas is left with no-one?” Cal asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
“The other employees will be staying in the area, I would assume. They have no other means of employment.” Mr Hart said.
Cal flipped through each file. “Masked Ranger, Clarion, Hellene, Osprey and The Atlantean. Who exactly is left?” He asked. “Quark? Twister?”
“Along with another dozen employees we couldn’t afford to keep.” Mr Hart said. “It’s strictly a business decision.”
Cal turned and walked out the door. “Wait!” Mr Hart said, leaping from his chair, but he was too late. Cal was in the elevator, the doors closing as Mr Hart crossed his waiting room.
Cal reached Level Thirteen, where his team was based. “I’m leaving.” He announced.
“You came down here to announce that?” Lee asked, not even looking up, as he completed his squats, an enormous weight on his back.
“I meant I’m leaving Hire-A-Hero.” Cal said. “I’m moving back to Dallas.”
His teammates all stopped in their tracks. Even Lee dumped his weight and stared at his brother. “What?”
“The San Antonio branch has been closed.” Cal explained. “Their top five guys are being sent here or New York. There isn’t anyone defending the entire Gulf Coast.”
“And you’re going to drop everything we have here, and go be a hero?” Lee asked.
“Haven’t you learned anything?” Cal asked. “The whole time we’ve been here? All those stories Grandpa used to tell us about the old days on Liberty Force?”
Lee bowed his head. “It’s not about the money.”
“Damn right. Now, we have a duty to our home, and to the entire damn country.” Cal said. “I intend to go down there and do what I have to, to keep those people safe. What about you?”
Lee sighed. “I’d better make sure nothing happens to you. I mean, you need your little brother to save your ass all the time up here.”
Cal smiled, and shook his brother’s hand. “The Richards Brothers, tearing up Texas all over again.”
Ossuary cleared her throat, and the two men looked at her. “And what, you were just going to leave me here?” She asked.
Cal was still smiling. “No, I was going to ask you to come live with me in Dallas, maybe help us out.”
Ossuary’s eyes went wide. “You finally want to move in together?” She asked.
“And all it took was moving across the country.” Cal joked.
“I’ll take it. Besides, without me, you boys would be completely lost.” Ossuary said, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend’s neck and planting a kiss on his lips.
Cal couldn’t take the grin off his face. “Now, as for the rest of you, I can’t ask you to leave your jobs here. You’ve got a good thing going here, I don’t want to ruin that for you.”
“Well, that’s too bad.” Mr Hart stepped out of the elevator. “Because they’re all fired.”
The Dirty Baker’s Dozen stared at their boss in disbelief. “You can’t do that.” Epic said.
“I’m afraid I can.” Mr Hart said. “I own this company. And this team is worthless to me without the Richards Brothers.”
“You’re an idiot.” Cal said. “Tide is every bit as powerful as her sister, Red Streak is unstoppable, LatX and Link are both good leaders. I could go on, but all I’m trying to say is: I’m just another part of this team, no more important than the others.”
“You would disrespect me like that?” Mr Hart’s voice was raised now. “Get out of my building, before I call someone to kick you out.”
Cal rolled his eyes, knowing the only person Mr Hart could call was Captain Awesome. “Move out of the way then.” Cal said, walking towards Mr Hart, and the elevator behind him. Mr Hart dove out of the way, as the rest of the team followed Cal onto the elevator.
Once outside the building, Cal assembled his team one last time.
“Guys, I’m sorry about how that all went down.” Cal said. “But I did what I had to do.”
“We understand.” Melchior said. “You have your duty.” The rest of the team nodded in agreement.
“Besides, now we can finally settle down.” AV squeezed Link’s hand.
“No contracts to worry about, we’ve got enough money for a place outside the city somewhere. We can go get real jobs.” Link said.
“Any of you are welcome to join us.” Cal said.
“Nah, I’m not sure I could put up with a whole state of Lees.” Epic joked, and the whole team, Lee included laughed.
“We’ll survive on our own.” Tide agreed.
As the team said their goodbyes, Epic sidled up next to LatX. “You know, Cal was right.” Epic said. “You’re a leader.”
LatX eyed his teammate for a moment. “So?”
“Well, it seems to me, we’ve got a bunch of superheroes here, without anything to do.” Epic said.
“No.” LatX said.
“But…”
“No.”
<><><>
Adrienne immediately recognised the Richards boys, and the blonde girl who must have been Ossuary, but she knew they wouldn’t recognise her. Lucky, the last thing she needed was for them to spot her at the airport.
Her heart raced, as she hurried out of their sight. What if they did spot her? How would she explain what she was doing? There was nothing left for her in LA, she needed a change. She needed something new. Or something else.
Her heart in her throat, she presented her ticket at the gate, as she boarded the flight to New York.
<><><>
Crackshot’s eyes fought to adjust to the darkness, but he couldn’t make out the man across the table.
“And how do I know I can trust you?” Crackshot asked. “I can’t even see you.”
“You have a reputation.” The other man said. “And I will pay you well for your skills. And your discretion.” The man pushed a briefcase across the table.
Crackshot looked at it for a moment. If it was booby-trapped, surely this man in the shadows would also be affected. It seemed safe. Crackshot opened the briefcase. Even in the low light, he could see Benjamin Franklin’s face looking back at him, dozens of them.
“If my calculations are correct, that’s ten times the amount of money that you earned in a year at your previous employer.” The man said.
“But only three-quarters of what the last offer someone made me for my services.” Crackshot said.
“This is just the retainer. Every two months, you will receive a briefcase just like this one. That’s around two million dollars, you’d have to ask an accountant for the exact amount.”
Crackshot smiled. “And in return?”
The other man laughed. “You kill anyone I tell you to.”
Crackshot only nodded.
<><><>
“It’s ours. All ours.” Linda said, as she stood outside the house.
“Well, mostly the banks’, but it’s a start.” Oscar said. “And we have enough in our savings to make our mortgage payments for a year.”
“It’ll be so much easier when we find jobs.” Linda said.
“I’ve applied to work at the supermarket, on the back loading dock, we’ll hear from them soon enough.” Oscar promised.
“You should apply for that Audio-Visual technician course I saw in the paper. You’ve got the experience.” Linda said.
The retired hero, formerly known as AV shook his head. “I’m going to need to work full time, if we’re going to be raising a family here.”
Linda looked confused. “Family? But we’re not even marr-“ Linda let out a gasp as Oscar got down on one knee.
<><><>
Eric sighed, as he stared at the phone. Two weeks ago, he had started placing ads in every newspaper in the city, offering his personal accounting services. The same place he had earned his Bachelor of Accounting was where he had been introduced to the world of the occult. It had both offended his Christian sensibilities, and intrigued him. The next thing he knew, he was signing up at Hire-A-Hero, and never really found a chance to use his Bachelor’s degree.
And he would have to keep waiting. The phone rang.
“Hello, Eric Caulfield speaking.” Eric said.
“Mr Eric Caulfield, formerly known as Melchior?” The voice on the other end asked.
“Y-yes.” Eric said.
“We have need of your abilities, and your experience.” The voice said.
“… What?” Eric asked.
“How would you like to serve your government?”
<><><>
“An office? Are you serious?” Lee asked.
“What? We need somewhere for people to contact us. And we need a public base of operations, we can’t just use our apartment.” Cal said.
“Which will, of course, just be our apartment once you find your own place.” Michelle added, looking pointedly at Lee.
Lee ignored his brother’s girlfriend. “We’re going to need a name. For the business.”
“Richards Brothers’?” Cal asked.
“Two Guys and A Girl?” Michelle asked.
“Texas Trio?” Cal suggested.
“Mid-South Boomers?” Lee said.
“Rose Between Two Thorns?” Michelle asked.
Cal suddenly thought of it. “Trilogy.”
“That’s kind of lame.” Lee said.
“What was dad’s favourite series of movies?” Cal asked.
“The Dollars Trilogy.” Lee said.
“And the last movie was: The Good.” Cal pointed at Michelle. “The Bad.” Cal was now pointing at Lee. “And The Ugly.” Cal pointed at himself.
Lee chuckled. “Trilogy it is.”
<><><>
“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” LatX said.
“I can’t believe you just spoke a full sentence.” Epic said.
LatX grunted.
“You were serious when you called us?” Fuse asked.
“Damn right.” Epic said.
Iaso smiled. “You couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
“Nope.” Epic said. “It’s addictive.”
Red Shift shrugged. “It’s a living.”
“Not yet. We need sponsors. And to get sponsors, we’re going to need publicity, and a catchy name.” Epic said.
“Any ideas?” LatX asked.
“One. Quintessence.” Epic said.
“What?” Fuse asked.
“I looked it up. It’s the name of the whole five element belief system thing.” Epic said. “Fire.” He nodded towards Fuse. “Water.” He nodded at LatX. “Earth.” He nodded at Red Streak. “Air.” He shrugged. “And the ether. The indefinable.” He pointed at Iaso.
“It’ll do.” LatX shrugged.